Jon Favreau On 'Iron Man's' Next Villain: 'You Have To Do The Mandarin'

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Jon Favreau says a familiar villain may finally arrive in the third installment of "Iron Man."

Jon Favreau says a familiar villain may finally arrive in the third installment of "Iron Man."

"You have to do The Mandarin," the "Iron Man" series director told MTV News of the comic book nemesis. "The problem with The Mandarin is, the way it's depicted in the comic books, you don't want to see that. He also has 10 magical rings, and it just doesn't feel right for our thing, so it's either tech-based or the rings are not really rings."

Jon added that the sequel to this weekend's blockbuster would be dependent on the events to unfold in Marvel Studio's upcoming slate of films - "Thor," "Captain America: The First Avenger" and in 2012, "Avengers" itself.

"What's going to have happened by then?" the director questioned. "With 'Thor,' you're going to have all this supernatural stuff happening and magic and there's a lot of stuff going on in the world. If it's going to match the comic books, it's going to be incredibly complex for film."

However, Jon said he did intend to soldier on with his "Iron Man" saga.

"I would like 'Iron Man 3' to pay it off," he said.

Judging by "Iron Man 2's" box office so far, he'll have the chance - the film earned $52.4 million in its opening day on Friday and has already grossed almost $150 million overseas.